In most jurisdictions all roadworthy vehicles or trailers are required by law to be registered with an appropriate governmental for official identification purposes. Accordingly, such vehicles are assigned a unique registration identifier, which may be numeric and/or alphanumeric, that uniquely identifies the vehicle owner within the issuing region's database. The unique registration identifier is printed or embossed onto a vehicle registration plate which is affixed onto the vehicle or trailer, along with a plate renewal sticker that must be renewed and replaced periodically.
Typically, the vehicle registration plate is affixed to the front and back of the vehicle, however, however, some jurisdictions only require the plate to be located at the back of the vehicle. The plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a plate frame that is fixed to the vehicle via two or more metal screws that are screwed into bumpers of the vehicle. The screw heads of the screws typically rest on top of the plate or plate frame, and therefore are exposed. When parallel parking it is not uncommon to tap the parked vehicle in front or behind, and those seemingly innocuous light taps cause the exposed screw heads to come into contact with the bumpers of the parked vehicles, resulting in scratches, scuffs and dents. Also, when driving in bumper to bumper traffic conditions the damage caused by tapping another vehicle's bumper is magnified. Fixing damaged bumpers involves grinding, sanding, sculpting and painting, which can be costly, time consuming, and can often exceed the insurance deductible for certain vehicles. In addition, for a typical driver the likelihood of such taps is extremely high, and can occur each time one parallel parks or drives in bumper to bumper traffic, and therefore these repair costs may become prohibitive, and often forces some drivers forego repairs and maintain the damaged bumpers in their unsightly states.
Furthermore, since the screw heads are exposed to exposure to rain, snow or road salt, they are susceptible to corrosion or rust. For drivers that use the plate frame and cover, the plate frame and cover must be removed in order to place a replacement plate renewal sticker. Rusted screws may be difficult to remove, and may require to be drilled out of the bumper by a mechanic in order to access the plate, which can be costly and inconvenient.
It is an object of the present invention to mitigate or obviate at least one of the above-mentioned disadvantages.